Hezbollah said hesitant to tap new leader, fearing ongoing Israeli infiltration will put Nasrallah successor at risk

Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah’s death has prompted Iranian authorities to thoroughly investigate possible infiltrations within Iran’s own ranks, from the powerful Revolutionary Guards to senior security officials, a senior Iranian official says.

They are especially focused on those who travel abroad or have relatives living outside Iran, another official says.

Tehran grew suspicious of certain members of the Guards who had been traveling to Lebanon, he says. Concerns were raised when one of these individuals began asking about Nasrallah’s whereabouts, particularly inquiring about how long he would remain in specific locations, the official adds.

The individual has been arrested along with several others, the first official says, after alarm was raised in Iran’s intelligence circles. The suspect’s family had relocated outside Iran, the official says, without identifying the suspect or his relatives.

The second official says the assassination has spread mistrust between Tehran and Hezbollah, and within Hezbollah.

“The trust that held everything together has disappeared,” the official says.

The Supreme Leader “no longer trusts anyone,” says a third source who is close to Iran’s establishment.

Nasrallah’s assassination followed two weeks of precise Israeli strikes that have destroyed weapons sites, eliminated half of Hezbollah’s leadership council and decimated its top military command.

Iran’s fears for the safety of Khamenei and the loss of trust, within both Hezbollah and Iran’s establishment and between them, emerged in the conversations with 10 sources for this story, who described a situation that could complicate the effective functioning of Iran’s Axis of Resistance alliance of anti-Israel irregular armed groups.

The disarray is also making it hard for Hezbollah to choose a new leader, fearing the ongoing infiltration will put the successor at risk, four Lebanese sources said.